Prep boys' basketball: Chapman's rare talents garner much interest

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Roy • Almost everything about Brekkott Chapman is rare.

His name, his game, his jaw-dropping athleticism and the way he carries himself. After being held without a field goal for the first time in his varsity career Tuesday night against Fremont, Roy's 6-foot-8 guard/forward laughed when he addressed what it's like being the No. 1 priority of every opposing team each time he steps on the floor.

"I love it," he said. "It makes you better."

Chapman, a junior, is forced to play big even though his skill set makes him more of a long-range threat on the perimeter or as a slasher.

"He's a 6-8 guard who has a back-to-the-basket game," Roy coach Dan McClure said. "He can score in the post, and for us, he has to score it in the post."

Chapman leads his team with 17 points, 9.7 rebounds and 3.5 blocks per contest through the Royals' first eight games. He's a wiry left-handed talent who has the ability to stretch the floor from distance and can run a fast break with the best of them.

McClure said his star is as good handling the ball in transition and seeing the floor as any player he's seen, a lot of which is attributed to the fact that Chapman typically is the tallest player on the court.

"Not many 6-8 kids can get the rebound, take three steps, kick it out, run the floor, get it back and finish with the opposite hand," McClure said.

That kind of versatility has college coaches from big-time programs drooling over the junior's potential.

McClure said Chapman already has offers from Utah, BYU, Utah State, Arizona State, Gonzaga, USC, UCLA, University of San Francisco and Colorado. Stanford and Arizona also are "very interested," McClure said.

He said six schools were visiting the Royals' gym per week at one point in early October to get a peek at one of the more strikingly talented players in Utah high school basketball.

"Those are some great teams," Chapman said with a wide grin. "I love them all."

He said he plans on making his decision to commit sometime next year between when his club basketball season ends and his senior year at Roy begins.

This is the first time McClure has gone through such a high-profile recruiting process as a coach, and with a talent like Chapman, he initially was worried about how the youngster would deal with the sudden limelight and attention from some of the best programs in the nation.

"I think he's handled it really well," he said. "He's level-headed, and when he comes to practice, he really is concerned about getting better."

There's no doubt Chapman will get better and better. He's mentioned in the same breath as some of the best high school players in Utah, such as Nick Emery, T.J. Haws and Eric Mika of Lone Peak, Brandon Miller of Brighton, Dalton Nixon of Orem and Parker Van Dyke of East.

It just so happens Chapman and Nixon are on the same club team.

"It's great to have people to look up to like that," Chapman said about being compared to the state's best players. "It gives me a lot of confidence."

Lynn Lloyd, program director with Utah Prospects, has coached Chapman for the last four years and echoed McClure's opinions of the junior having "guard skills in a big kid's body."

On Wednesday morning, Lloyd said he talked to a college coach who spoke to Chapman after the win over Fremont and was impressed that the Roy star shook off his offensive struggles against the Silverwolves.

"[The coach] said it was refreshing that he wasn't worried about his points," Lloyd said. "He's going to be a good one, that's for sure."

Lloyd said each time he sees his pupil, he reminds him he must bulk up his skinny frame, work on his academics and play through adversity.

"Sometimes kids accept the fact they're playing poorly," Lloyd said. "He needs to work on that a little bit."

The rare talent that Roy's star exudes comes with an engaging personality and a polite disposition. When asked what it's like to have some of the top college programs in America chasing him, Chapman smiled and shook his head.

"It's a little bit hectic," he said, "but I'd rather have this than not have it. It's going to get me somewhere in life."

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